So, the poet came back from the edge of the Dark Valley where his feet had been treading. He long outlived the physician who had watched over him with such solicitude.
XVII
In the May of 1868 Whittier wrote to his sister’s friend and his own:
“Many thanks for thy very interesting letter from Vineland. I wished I was there when I read it. It has been dismally cold here most of the time since thee left. Nothing has been done in the gardens. The snow, however, is all gone now and there have been a few days of spring weather. The grass is springing up, the arbutus is almost in bloom, and the maple at our door is in full blossom. I have been a week in Boston and vicinity and got home last night. I was at Mrs. Pitman’s and one or two other places, but generally kept quiet. Yesterday at three o’clock when I left Boston, the thermometer was near summer heat; before I got home the air was full of rain and sleet; and it was winter. I feel the effects of the change a good deal this morning.
“There is nothing new here.” Then follow a few items of news of Amesbury. “When shall thee return?” he adds. “We miss thee a great deal. A—— left us a week ago. Lizzie sends love. She had a great time at Richmond.” [The niece who had been at the South teaching the freedmen.]
Again in May, six years later, he writes from Amesbury: “I have been a good deal unwell this spring, and had to keep house for two or three weeks. I hope I am getting better.... Yesterday the ministers and laymen came here in great force. The orthodox houses were filled with hungry guests, and as the day was beautiful, they had a good time.... Mrs. S—— from N—— and Gail Hamilton and Lucy Larcom were at our house.... Mr. Pickard has been here and staid two days. This is the second time he has been here since thee left.... We had a great thunderstorm on the last seventh day night. Spring has come in earnest now. The grass is green on the hills, the elms are putting out their leaves, and the maples are in blossom.”
In another letter he says that he should have written before but for his many visitors and the “overwhelming mass of letters” that had been pouring down upon him; and also but for illness—“a hard attack of neuralgia,” he writes, “which has now nearly passed off, and a weary time of sleeplessness remains. I want to go to Amesbury, but cannot until I feel stronger and better. The extreme cold of the past month has been very trying.... My dear old friend, Mrs. Pitman, has been very sick, but is now improving. Mrs. Fields has had a severe attack of pneumonia, but is now thought out of danger. Things, I believe, remain about the same at Amesbury. I was saddened by the death of Mr. B——. I shall miss him much. The C—— boys are still with Mrs. B——; but a place must be found for them soon and I hardly know what to do about it. I hope to get to Amesbury by the middle of the month.”
This letter was from Oak Knoll in the February of 1888.